THE   PACIFIC   OCEAN.                        4S7
They lie, in herds of many hundreds, upon the ice; 1778.
huddling one over the other like fwine ; and roar or bray Auf"ft
very loud; fo that, in the night, or in foggy weather, they
gave us notice of the vicinity of the ice, before we could fee
it. We never found the whole herd afleep; fome being al-
ways upon the watch. Thefe, on the approach of the boat,
would wake thofe next to them; and the alarm being thus
gradually communicated, the whole herd would be awake
prefently. But they were feldom in a hurry to get away, till
after they had been once fired at. Then they would tumble
one over the other, into the fea, in the utmoft confuiion.
And, if we did not^ at the firit difcharge, kill thofe we fired
at, we generally loft them, though mortally wounded.
They did not appear to us to be that dangerous animal fome
authors have defcribed; not even when attacked. They
are rather more fo, to appearance, than in reality. Vaft
numbers of them would follow, and come clofe up to the
boats. But the flafli of a mufquet in the pan, or even the
bare pointing of one at them, would fend them down in an
inftant. The female will defend the young one to the very
laft, and at the expence of her own life, whether in the wa-
ter, or upon the ice. Nor will the young one quit the dam,
though me be dead 5 fo that, if you kill one, you are fure of
the other. The dam, when in the water, holds the young
one between her fore-fins.
Mr. Pennant, in his Synopfis gyadr. p. 335 *, has given a
very good defcription of this animal under the name of
ArBic Walrus; but I have no where feen a good drawing
* Mr. Pennant, fince Captain Cook wrote this, has defcribed. this animal in a new
work, which he calls Artiic Zoology now ready for publication. .Wehave been favoured
with his obliging communications on this, and other particulars j and, therefore, refer the
reader to the ArSiic Zoology, N° 72.
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